Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Indigenous languages ·1620s
Quinoa
from kinwa
- Meaning
- A high-protein seed crop of the Andes.
- Source word
- kinwa
- Route into English
- Quechua *kinwa* → Spanish *quinua/quinoa* → English via 19th-century botanical literature → explosion in global usage in the 2000s as a "superfood." Pronounced several ways in English.
- Arrived
- 1620s
From Indigenous languages
A loose group: Nahuatl, Taino, Algonquian, Guugu Yimithirr, and others. Colonial contact produced many loans; the speakers were often systematically dispossessed of the land the loanwords described.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.